


Smash Bros

by intrepidem



Series: The Chronicles of Richie and Glasses [2]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Explicit Language, Fluff, Homophobic Language, Humor, I promise it's mostly happy, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Multi, Other, Porn Watching, Teenage Hormones, but it's not all bad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-23 17:32:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13195080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intrepidem/pseuds/intrepidem
Summary: Chris has something he's been wanting to ask Josh. Josh is perplexed, but no less an active listener and a helping hand.Who'd've thought this is what they meant by 'dudes being dudes.'





	1. Just Dudes Being Dudes

**Author's Note:**

> Considering my work Four and a Half Times didn't have the most favorable ending in regards to happily ever after, I figured I should do another coming out story that just might have that ending.

 

 

 

Chris is fiddling with his brand new class ring nervously, gamecube controller resting in his lap while he watches his best friend handle his with a practiced ease, reclined, fixed onto the television screen displaying bright colors and harsh light in the dimly lit room. It's afternoon, and cloudy, so Chris' two black-curtained windows don't do much to brighten up the atmosphere. Right now, the room is bathing in artificial blue luminescence.

 

They're sitting in faded purple beanbags, empty cans of mountain dew and a half-eaten bag of pretzels strewn messily between them, including a pair of Chris' pants that he forgot to shove along the perimeter of his room in order to appease his mom so she'd let Josh come over. Josh is currently deciding between playing Captain Falcon or Samus for their next round.

 

Chris takes a deep breath and inhales the faded, sweet scent of Versace or some other needlessly expensive cologne coming from Josh's over doused t-shirt. He rubs his sweaty palms on his red cargo shorts, grabbing his right shin and pulling his leg towards himself so he was more curled up in his seat.

 

"Hey, Josh?" Chris calls out. His voice is kinda froggy so he clears his throat, running the hand that he used to cover his mouth through his short, blonde hair. 

 

"'Sup?" The brunet replies distractedly, green eyes flicking over to him for a split second before they're back on the screen, rapidly clicking through skins before backtracking to the character select.

 

There's a silence, full of one-sided tension, until it's broken by Chris' practiced, steady voice.

 

"You know how you told me you were bi?" 

 

Josh's thumb immediately froze on the joystick, stuck on Luigi, and he blinks for a solid two seconds before responding with a short if not slightly dubious "Yeah?"

 

It was very clear day in his memory. It also didn't hurt that it wasn't all that long ago; maybe six months, tops. He remembers the long, long night before, how he couldn't fall asleep because he pf the anxiety. He also remembered the gut-wrenching feeling of dread that ate him up the entire morning leading up to the big reveal. He finally decided, however, that after nearly two years of back and forth with this, it was gonna be now or never.

 

They were relaxing in Chris' room playing video games on a day much like today when he decided now was the perfect moment to strike. He was utterly destroying the blonde's pasty ass in Mortal Kombat, so he figured he should rip it off like a bandaid and deliver the news whilst his friend had so much stimuli to absorb at once that he was sure to take it better by summation.

 

" _Yo, Cochise, you know I'm into dudes, right_?"  He'd blurted out, rushed and carefully aloof.

 

Clearly, that logic was horrendously flawed, because immediately after he barfed the words out of his big stupid mouth, he regretted ever speaking a day in his life. He cringed to himself and shut his eyes, a wave of anxiety washing over him in the form of heat flushing his body. He started mentally kicking himself when Chris hit the menu button to pause the game, and as a result the console let out a sound so loud amongst the deafening silence Josh felt like it shattered his eardrums. It suddenly occurred to him that now wasn't too late to laugh it off and pretend it was a joke. 

 

Slowly, Josh cracked his eyes open, peaking over to see Chris staring at him and the blonde's face was so taken off guard, so bewildered that it would have been hilarious if he wasn't absolutely terrified. Okay, now it was too late to laugh it off and pretend it was a joke.

 

" _Wait . . . are you saying you're gay?"_

 

There it was. The opportunity to cut his losses and tell a half-truth. He had a small safety net right there in front of his face, a prospect that had crossed his mind the night before and come up a lot more that morning. It was just about as 'no homo' as homo could get, especially considering the situation he put himself in with his big, dumb face hole. Looking at Chris' expression that day, unreadable and daunting, Josh decided to go with the safety net.

 

" _Bi, actually._ " He corrected, as smooth as he could muster, swallowing convulsively around his suddenly dry throat and hoping it didn't show on his face that he was freaking the fuck out. 

 

Chris continued to stare at him for what felt like a lifetime but was probably just a moment or two. Eventually, he spoke up.

 

" _Like, for real? You're not fucking with me_?" Chris cautioned, and you could hear the eggshells he was walking on in his voice.

 

" _Like, for real, yeah_."

 

Josh's voice was uncharacteristically soft and, like a lightening bolt suddenly struck him on the dick, he saw as Chris realized Josh was being completely serious. 

 

Now, Josh thought, here comes the fork in the road, the moment things would split for good. Chris opened his mouth, and Josh tried not to flinch. 

 

" _Oh. Cool_." 

 

Josh blinked.

 

'Cool?'

 

His confusion was probably there on his face without him having to voice it because Chris just smiled hesitantly, a small shrug in his shoulders.

 

" _I mean. Like, if that's who you are, that's who you are."_ He placated, completely laying on the cheese but Josh certainly preferred that over the imagined alternative. _"I'm happy for you, bro_."

 

Needless to say, this was turning out to be a much better reception than Josh had pictured.

 

The aftermath, or lack thereof, ended up fucking Josh's expectations in the ass even more. He at least thought Chris would start treating him differently now that he nows. It only made sense; now that he was aware some part of Josh thought about having sex with guys, things definitely should have gotten a little bit awkward. Always full of surprises, though, Chris didn't treat him any differently after he found out, save for asking some random questions here and there. That mostly happened at the very beginning, though. Chris had lots and lots of questions that day, such as how long he's known ( _since always, I guess_ ), how many other people he's told ( _no one else, so don't go telling, dude_ ), and even a question about what his type was. That last one was hard to answer ( _um_ ), and Josh felt his face go hot. He ended up just laughing it off ( _why, you interested in a piece of the Washing Machine?_ ), effectively changing the subject so he didn't have to say something he might regret saying later. It had been enough sharing for one day.

 

In a blink, Josh is back to the real world. He drags his gaze from his lap to look over at Chris, general intrigue as well as shaky uncertainty marking his features. Any mention or inquiry from Chris regarding his sexual orientation beyond that first day never failed to catch him off guard. There's something about it that's so jarring, as if he keeps forgetting that it isn't a secret anymore, or at least not to Chris.

 

Chris has his mouth in a tight line, blue eyes fixed on Josh's, like he's waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect timing to continue with what he's going to say next. He seems to second guess himself, though, because as soon as he opens his mouth, his eyes drop to the floor and he tilts his head back down with a small huff, suddenly bashful. 

 

Well, shit, now Josh is intrigued. This is some unusual behavior. Chris was one to be a lot more care-free and light in their everyday interactions, so this was out of character to say the least. "What is it, bro?" He pries, somewhat against his better judgement, caught between his hesitancy and his nosiness. 

 

"So, like . . . " Chris' mouth stays open for a long time, searching for the right way to phrase this next part. "How did you know? That you, uh, you know, that you were bi?"

 

_Oh._ Josh smiles slightly, and then it's immediately wiped from his face as the realization hits him.

_Oh, shit._  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know if you like it and I might keep going.
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](https://intrepidem.tumblr.com/)


	2. Just Dudes Bein' Gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back to smash bros, the dumbest fic ever. I hope you enjoy this new installment. I get a kick out of making these boys a lil gay, and i hope you do too.

 

 

Chris is staring at Josh expectantly, and suddenly Josh remembers he's supposed to be answering his question. Fuck, how long has he been gawking in the pasty blonde's direction, mind reeling from what this means. 

 

Is Chris about to come out to him? No, not Chris. The dude's straight as a pin, always has been. Right? He's never shown an inkling before. Besides, he totally has a hard-on for that red-head, a friend of a friend, in their biology class. Holy shit, is Chris bi? Maybe he was just too afraid to let it show, just like Josh was. Is. Was. No, is, he's still not even out to his family. But if Chris is bi . . . what does that make the two of them?  If they both like dudes . . . Fuck, Josh is getting ahead of himself. Question. Chris asked a question, and the answer is:

 

"I, uh . . . Well," He clears his throat and recovers from his fugue state, making his voice nice and smooth like he hadn't just been picturing his best friend going to the bone zone with another dude. "Just like, some guys are hot. Didn't take rocket science to figure out I was into them."

 

Something funny happens on Chris' face, like a nose crinkle that turns into a self-deprecating smile, and then the expression is suddenly wiped away. "Right." Chris says, and if Josh was reading into it right he sounded a little disappointed.

 

Weird.

 

"Uh, so, why do you ask, bro?" Josh probed, hoping it didn't seem like he was staring too hard, trying to get a better gauge of what's going on in the blonde's head. 

 

There's gotta be something more to this than an innocent inquiry. Straight friends don't just randomly ask queer friends about their queer revelations, not unless, well . . .

 

"Oh, you know. Like, just curious." Chris replies, giving a little shrug and promptly whipping his attention back to the video game alight on the screen.  

 

Josh stares at him for a while, flummoxed at this uneventful series of weird events that just suddenly back into regular bro-time. Chris is acting far too normal, picking up his controller to select his usual character, being old reliable Ike. The only thing that gives him away are his stupidly long, blonde, flittering eyelashes as he blinks nervously, eyes somewhat unfocused. He's trying resolutely to resume their game of Smash but his best friend has no intention of letting him off that easy. 

 

In a moment of bravado, Josh lets himself say it. "Oh, come the fuck on."

 

Chris is clearly startled, blue eyes sharp behind his glasses. "What, bro?"

 

Josh raises a brow at him knowingly. " _Just curious_ ," He repeats, all dopey-faced, doing a poor impression of his best friend's voice and Chris just scoffs.

 

 It's obvious the wall he's putting up, and the Washington kid wants nothing more than to chip away at it gently with a Jackhammer. Josh breathes out heavily, shaking his head. 

 

"Dude, seriously, I haven't seen you this worked up since Apple released the Macbook Air. What's goin' on?"

 

"Wh-what do you mean?" Chris says, playing dumb, and the poor kid is already sweating buckets. 

 

Josh ran a hand down his face, "Okay, bro, you can't just ask me out of the blue how I knew I like dick and not expect some follow up questions." 

 

Chris blanched at that, and sure, Josh had a tendency to a little abrasive sometimes, a tad too blunt, but that was all a part of his charm, or so he keeps telling people.

 

“Such as?”

 

"Such as, why are you so curious, bro?"

 

"I— " Chris begins, defensive, huffing, a total mess. He splutters for a few more moments, trying to find an argument against it. Then he deflates like a balloon to a porcupine at the zoo, and his face looks like the kid who the balloon belonged to. "Okay. Okay." He breathes, eyes anywhere but on Josh. "So. I know I like girls, but . . . I've been doing lots of thinking, and I think, maybe, I might. . . You know, play for both teams. Maybe. Or maybe not. I don't know, it's kinda, pretty confusing. And, I mean, you seemed to have it all figured out, and-"

 

"Whoa whoa whoa, okay, wait," Josh interrupts, laying a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "First of all, I definitely don't 'have it all figured out,' whatever that means. I mean, it's stressful as fuck, ya know? I haven't even told Han and Beth, because I feel like . . . well, it's hard, anyway. Second of all, just because I knew pretty early on doesn't mean you can't be questioning. Like it or not, sexuality is a spectrum, dude, and no one person is gonna have the same experience as another person. You just gotta .  . . do you."

 

Chris absorbs this, his facial journey amusing to watch as he considers his best friends' words. "Yeah," he agrees after a while, thumb placed along his mouth, chewing at a cuticle, a nervous habit he's had since middle school. "Yeah, guess you're right."

 

"Damn straight!" Josh bolsters, then laughs at himself. "Well, 'damn questioning,' in your case, I guess." He then cocks a brow and gives the blonde a once over with his pervasive green orbs.

 

Chris rolls his eyes, but there's a smile on his face, an improvement from the nervous energy he was emanating earlier like he was some kind of hairless, trembling chihuahua. 

 

"I don't know, I mean. It sounds stupid, but it's like I can't tell the difference between a man crush and like . . . gay stuff." Chris looks up at him, suddenly guilty about a perceived offense. "Sorry."

 

"It might help if you bounced some stuff off of me," Josh suggests, camafloucging his interest in the subject with a slanted brow, hands gesturing in uncertainty and hitting his thighs on the way down. "Since I'm obviously the expert." He wisecracks as the finishing touch, a slight that makes Chris a little queasy. "Relax, dude, it's cool. You can talk to me."

 

"Okay. Yeah. So, it kinda started with this dream."

 

" _Oh_ ," Josh says slyly, like he already has the answer. Sexy dreams were one of his early on tells, too, providing a literal rude awakening to a world where he had more problems to deal with than throwing his bed sheets in the washing machine. 

 

"No, not like that," Chris interjects, "it wasn't, like. . . that."

 

"Oh." Josh falters. 

 

"I was just." Chris breathes, gearing up for the retelling. "Okay, so, I was getting ready for dinner, like a dinner date. I was trying to figure out what to wear. And there was this cat who was like bright green and could talk, telling me what to try on. Weird dream shit, yeah? So then, I'm like, I'm riding to the place in this limo for some reason and I get there and my date is waiting for me there. . ." Chris pauses, and Josh bores into him, completely lost. "it was a guy." He finally adds, and Josh clucks his tongue. "We talked for a while, he was nice and all, but then my teeth fell out on my plate and I woke up."

 

"Oh. . ." Josh says for the third and least confident time. 

 

"Yeah," Chris echos his tone, eyes a little distant. "What ever happened to the dreams where I could fly?" He muses, a small smile tweaking the corner of his mouth.

 

"So, like, weird dreams, got it." Josh measures, taking note in his head. "Anything else?"

 

Chris runs a hand through his hair and rests it at the back of his neck. "Well," He sighs. "I watched some porn."

 

"Really?" Josh's eyes instantly light up with amusement, "Whadja' think?" He asks as he bares down on the squishy beanbag, turning his body to face Chris better. Then, in a moment of sudden self-consciousness, he realizes he probably seems way too interested in this turn of the conversation. Like a pro, he slumps back down again, sinking into his chair and loosening his shoulders so that his body language bred nonchalance. "Like, did you have an epiphany or some shit?"

 

"Not really." Chris admits honestly. "I mean, I'm not a huge porn watcher, but . . . I don't know, I wasn't like special or anything."

 

"But you weren't grossed out?" Josh questions immediately.

 

"I guess not." Chris offers.

 

Josh ponders this for a little while, unable to find any kind of diagnosis. One strange dream isn't really a lot to go on, considering how Josh believes the subconscious to be as random as it is difficult to understand, but there had to be some other reason for this to be nagging at Chris so much.

 

For Josh, it was almost unable to deny. He'd had a crush on Mike Munroe for years, hyper-fixated since middle school. He always amounted it up to being about a popularity contest and, later on, a friendly rivalry. Then, at the tail end of puberty, he found himself transfixed by those chocolate brown eyes and those pink, pink lips in high school and realized there might be something else afoot. 

 

A knock at the door startles both of the boys, still reclined in their bean bags but engaged in a fairly significant and highly secretive conversation. "Come in," Chris calls, reaching towards the bag of pretzels in between them, pushing them off to the side as if they had something to hide.

 

Mrs. Hartley pops her face into the doorway, cheeks flushed healthfully, sweet face smiling at the two of them. "Just wanted to let you know, dinner's on the table. I made some spaghetti and meatballs, and you better run to it quick before your brothers get to it." She warns, a twinkle in her kind eyes.

 

"Thanks, Mom. We'll be down in a sec."

 

The door closes behind her, and Josh looks to his best friend with regret in his eyes.

 

"Dude," he mourns. "I ate way too many pretzels."

 

"Yeah, you pretty much inhaled like half this bag." Chris agrees, laughing good-naturedly. 

 

The atmosphere of the room has changed remarkably, no trace of gay insecurities in sight. Josh is almost disappointed that the conversation is over, but has been given the chance to stew the information for himself. 

 

He'll be damned if he doesn't get to the bottom of this.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> reviews are my lifeblood. either way thanks for reading, i just thought i'd let you know how i get my sustenance during the winter months


End file.
